Fire on fire
by Nieri
Summary: 1- She's dancing, and then she's not. 2- He's happy to finally get to see her, it's her big moment, he owes her. Then she slips away from him like water.
1. 1- Fire

**IMPORTANT/ AUTHOR'S NOTES**

I saw the movie early on last year, and I thought it was nice. I saw it again recently, three days ago, for the sake of precision, and again thought it was nice. Full of anachronisms and- not right things, but nice. And so a sudden wave of passion for this movie and its characters came to be within me. That's how this fic was born :)

Definitely, what caught me in this movie were the characters, three in particular. One, as y'all have probably already guessed, is Odette. Who's she? What's the deal with her? We just have Merante's words "the best of her generation", "there was a fire". If she was the best, how comes no one knows her? Not even people who should know her? A fire. What happened? What happened? If you search deep enough, you'll probably find she's a "happy ending" version of a real person, Emma Livry. And I could go on hours about Odette, but I'll stop here.  
Hope you liked this little thingy :)

I've decided to, unlike what I'm doing on AO3, to give this thing the title of the collection and give each chapter the title of the fics. Dunno if I'm explaining myself, but basically I'm crossposting with AO3 and here it's a multichapter while there it's separate fics.

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**1- Fire**

Fire.

She's dancing, an ethereal figure, an angel-like silhouette moving gracefully on-stage. She's so caught up in her routine that she doesn't pick up immediately the penetrating smell, but suddenly her lungs are burning and she's inhaling smoke. Fire. She doesn't understand what's happening, and the sudden wave of heat that hits her, makes her head spin. Her eyes are full of tears, and she can't breathe, she can't breathe, she _can't breathe_.

Fire.

She hears cries of fear and pain, but she can't understand if it's her, who's screaming, or the other danseuses. And while she screams more smoke enter her lungs and she's interrupted by a fit of coughs. Fire. She's scared- no, she's terrified. The smoke makes it impossible to see where the exit is, and flames surround her every way she turns, a wall of heat, and death, and horror.

Fire.

Her heart is beating so fast she thinks it will dig a hole in her chest and leave, her lungs burn and her muscles ache, but numbness is slowly making its way in her limbs and she's so very tired... She'd like to close her eyes, and sleep, and- Suddenly the ceiling cracks and comes tumbling down. She's not fast enough.

Fire.

She feels it on her skin and it's so soft and thin, and it could almost do not exist. But then it's hot, and angry, and it hurts. It _hurts_. She can't move and it hurts. And it's not only the fire, it's also one of the beams that has her legs trapped. She can't run away. She's trapped. She can't run away. It hurts.

Fire.

She stops fighting. The sudden revelation she's been abandoned there to die hits her like a train. She's going to die in there. In the burning hell her favourite place in the world has become. But she doesn't dwell much on those thoughts, because the pain makes it impossible for her to concentrate even on the smallest of things.

Fire.

It's subsiding, she notices. The pain is replaced by numbness every passing second, and she's grateful, because this way she can finally rest. Her head feels like it's stuffed with wool, and her eyelids are so, so heavy. She's gonna die here, she thinks, she deserves a little sleep.

Fire.

It's silly, but she can't not notice the stark contrast between the bright (too bright) flames and the blackness she knows awaits behind her closed eyelids. It's silly. But then someone makes its way in that roaring inferno and frees her from beneath the beam. She's barely aware she's being picked up and that she's being taken out of there. Her eyes finally close and she blacks out. Even then, she dreams of fire.


	2. 2- Morte du cygne

Okay, I didn't really plan anything of this, least of all a series of- are these one shots? Drabbles? What are these?- thingies about Ballerina/Leap. But then, hey!, life's like that sometimes. Unplanned becomes the plan and here it is the result. A sort of "sequel" to "Fire".  
First of all, I didn't plan this, but I still have more or less fifteen tabs opened which range from Marie Taglioni to Glossary of ballet, so I do have a historical base for this one. I have planned almost everything. Not about other... thingies... but about timeline and events! Down there's the history lesson :)  
And, don't worry, the title is disguising :)

Also, I still am out of a beta, bc my beta's still busy, so if you notice any grammatical mistake, please tell me :)

Also, the characters and the movie don't belong to me.

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**2- Morte du cygne**

Tonight Odette dances in le Papillon, and, for the first time ever, she's the lead. Tonight is her big debut, the one ballet that will launch her career. She's too good to be left on the side for long, too good to still be a coryphée or a sujet, but her teacher, the great Marie Taglioni, had decided to let her in the shadows for a bit more, and, sincerely, he agreed with her.

Odette's debut had to be groundbreaking: madame Taglioni had even decided to create a ballet just for her!

And so he's come back from Saint Petersburg to see her dance, because he has to be there. He has to. She would never forgive him if he doesn't show up, and he would never forgive himself if he misses her big show.

He's walking calmly, but his barely contained joy every once in a while finds its outlet in a couple of hinted pas de bourrée or a pirouette here and there. And then he sees it. Fire. From the Salle Le Peletier. He stops to watch at it from afar, and he doesn't immediately connect the dots, but, while he stares at the dark smoke spiralling to the sky, a cold shiver runs down his spine.

Odette! Odette is in there! She's dancing- Oh God, _Odette_!

He starts running as fast as he can: his lungs burn trying to bring more oxygen to his aching muscles, his heart rate increases exponentially, and the rush of adrenaline flowing in his system has him running so fast he could almost rival a horse in speed.

When he arrives, his breath is laboured and he's out of air, but he heads immediately to the dancers, grouped at a safe distance from the burning building, to search for Odette. He doesn't see her, but he sees her teacher. Marie Taglioni is in the centre of a group of coryphées and is controlling if everyone's there. He makes his way towards her through the scared girls, and catches her arm. Truth be told he's not really enough in confidence with her to act like this, but for Odette he'd do anything. The old woman turns and, before she can say anything, he speaks.

"I can't see Odette!" he exclaims, "I can't see her!"

He clearly sees her eyes widen in horror as realization comes down on her. "Me neither."

She turns her head to the fire the same time he does, but she can't move like he does because of some of the younger girls clutching to her clothes.

The building is collapsing under its own weight, its supporting walls weakened by the fire. And Odette is in there. Without even thinking, he hurries toward the entrance and makes his way in that roaring inferno. Suddenly a hand on his shoulder stops him. It's one of the pompieres.

"Monsieur!" he screams, "You have to go out of here! It's dangerous, the building could collapse every moment!"

He shakes his head violently. "No!" he screams back, "She's still in here! I have to save her- Odette's still here! She'll _die_!"

The pompier nods. "I'll go get her. You go out of here, monsieur."

He shakes his head again, "No!" he repeats, but the pompier just points the way they've come from. Reluctantly he obeys.

In the street, surrounded by dancer and students, he waits, and every minute seems to last an hour. He can't bear the tension for much longer.

After what seems to be hours, the pompier comes out of there holding someone in his arms. He's not the only one to run to his side, madame Taglioni mirrors him.

Odette is unconscious, her body's littered with burns and her right leg is bent in a worrisome way. Her breath is so slow it's almost as if she's not breathing at all.

The pompier doesn't stop until a medic takes her from his arms.

"She's the last one. There's no one else in there." he says to the medic, "We can help with the bodies..." he adds then, and just now he notices that part of the street is full of bodies, _corpses_, his mind supplies, covered with some blankets. His heart stops at the thought Odette could still be part of those.

A hand on his arm makes him turn. Madame Taglioni is showing a frown, and her voice is dead serious when she talks.

"My boy," she tells him, "I know you're worried for Odette- I am too, but we can't go with her right now. The doctors have other people to take care of; this tragedy has had its fair share of victims. You come with me and help me gather the girls and the students: you're still fresh of your final exam at this school. They still recognise you as one of their own."

The "but why me?" gets stuck in his throat as he obeys and follows her to the crowd of people. They don't speak for the rest of the night, and, when they're free and everyone's gone home, they both go to the hospital and get permission to stay in Odette's room and watch over her for the night. And he does not sleep, he just sits by her, wishing, hoping, she wakes up.

NOTE'S HERE

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*Coryphée: is the lead of the corps de ballet  
*Sujet: is a dancer who gets some solos  
*Pompier: fireman

About the historical base, for example, Marie Taglioni was born in 1804, and she really did choreograph a ballet called "Le Papillon" only for her protégée Emma Livry (already said Odette's her happy-ending version). The ballet premiered in 1861, and Emma caught fire in 1862, dying then in 1863 after months of incommensurable pain. Also, la Salle Le Peletier has been the home of the Opera and Dance Academy of Paris until 1873, when it was destroyed in a fire. The Palais Garnier, which is the building in the movie, was inaugurated in 1875 and it's, since then, the Opera location. So I thought, what if I move Emma's tragedy a few years later? Like, in 1873 when the Salle Le Peletier was destroyed and have that being the fire that ruined Odette? So here it is the short version. I will be happy to explain with more details if you ask :)

Nieri :)


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